This invention relates to front loading disk players.
Front loading disk players are constructed so as to allow articles to be placed on the player unit. In particular, a data recording disk (hereinafter referred to simply as "disk") is supplied into a player housing through an insertion opening arranged on the front panel of the player housing.
There are many types of front loading disk player available. For example, a front loading disk player disclosed in Japanese Patent Un-examined Publication No. 61-80554 is of a slot-in type, in which a slot that is thin and long enough to insert a disk therethrough is formed on the front panel as an insertion opening and a disk inserted through this slot is loaded onto a turntable by being transferred in a direction parallel to the main surface of the disk or in a direction vertical to such a direction. Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Un-examined Publication No. 62-291748 and the like, is a front loading disk player of an ejectable carrier type. This type of player has a carrier that is ejectable through a rectangular opening formed on the front panel and causes a disk to be carried on the carrier which is ejected out of the player housing and loads the disk onto the turntable by moving the carrier in two directions, i.e., horizontal and vertical directions. Still further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Un-examined Publication No. 64-52250, there is a multidisk-containing player capable of continuously playing a plurality of disks. This type of player has a magazine for accommodating a plurality of disks in an array and the magazine is inserted releasably into the loading section within the player housing through an insertion opening arranged on the front panel. The player also has a disk selecting and transferring mechanism which sequentially selects a disk contained in the magazine and transfers the selected disk in two directions, parallel to the main surface of the disk and vertical thereto, thereby to transfer the disk to the turntable.
As described above, to load any desired disk with the conventional front loading disk players, this would include transferring the disk whose surface area is large. As a result, it is necessary to secure space large enough to move the disk within the player housing, and this makes it difficult to reduce the size of the player.
Further, there is a growing demand in recent years for a front loading disk player which can be mounted close to the driver of a car. However, the space allowed for the player in the vicinity of the driver is so small that it is difficult to respond to the above demand by only employing the conventional construction.